


Roger That

by QuietBreeze



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Canon Universe, Caring Lance, Emotional Baggage, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Keithtober 2019, Loner Keith (Voltron), M/M, Prompt Fic, Season 3, Stubborn Keith (Voltron), Team Leader, another bonding moment we needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 15:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietBreeze/pseuds/QuietBreeze
Summary: Keith has a habit of keeping his feelings bottled up, even when he knows he should be talking to others instead of hiding away. After finding out he is to be the new leader of Voltron, he's sure he's going to keep his walls up, as always.That is, until he runs into Lance late one night.--Takes place during season 3. Written for the 'Team Leader' prompt for Keithtober 2019!





	Roger That

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write some hurt/comfort Klance for this prompt, which means this is the first Klance fic I've uploaded to AO3 so I'm pretty excited. 
> 
> I haven't edited this very much so let me know if there are glaring errors and I'll remove them. Otherwise I hope you guys enjoy!

“I want you to lead Voltron.”

The words rang through Keith’s head like a broken film reel, repetitive and disorientating. It had been happening every day, ever since… since…

He couldn’t even face up to it, even though it had been weeks since Shiro’s disappearance. It felt bitter on his tongue whenever he spoke about it, and he didn’t trust himself not to lash out in front of others, which is why he generally kept the matter to himself. It was also why he was spending most of his time alone, like now for instance. He was sitting on his bed and leaning against the wall with his knees against his chest, twirling his Marmoran Blade between his fingers.

What was he even supposed to do now? How could he do what Shiro did? He was a natural leader; he radiated an energy that made people want to follow him, no matter what. Keith wasn’t that kind of person. If anything, his energy seemed to drive people away from his side instead of closer to it. How was anyone going to admire him as a leader if they didn’t even admire him as a person?

He dropped his dagger on the bed and let his head fall into his hands. This was doing nothing to reduce his agitation. He checked the time on his clock. It was after midnight. He didn’t know the hell he would sleep with all these thoughts driving him crazy. Maybe he would go to the training room and let off some steam, tire himself out so his body would have no choice but to sleep.

He hoped he wasn’t waking anyone as the door slid open and he strolled into the corridor. He was usually the only one awake at this hour, and he knew the rest of the team were aware of his midnight training sessions. So far, there had been no complaints.

He hadn’t even bothered changing into paladin armour as he entered the training suite, feeling warm enough with his black t-shirt and jeans. Out of blind habit he sauntered to the weapons table and swiped his bayard, watching as the sword formed itself within his grasp.

“Training sequence nine,” he commanded.

* * *

After about half an hour Keith sat with his back against the wall, chest heaving as he got his breath back, wiping his forehead with a palm. He’d exhausted himself, yet again, and he didn’t think he even felt better than before. That’s just what he did: dove headfirst into a decision without knowing if it would benefit hm or not.

He scoffed to himself before chugging his water. As if he needed any more reasons that he wasn’t cut out to lead a team.

For a while he just stayed in that position by the wall, only the faint hum of the room breaking the silence. He rolled his sweaty palms into balls, flexing his fingers by his sides, not knowing what else to do with them. Why couldn’t he just relax?

If Shiro had been here he’d have gone straight to him, irrespective of the time, and the older man would have known exactly what to say. It didn’t even have to be much – just a sentence or two. Shiro had a way of reassuring a person just from his presence, and his endless patience. It didn’t seem fair he had to be the one taken away from him.

When he was about to give in and head back to his room, Keith heard movement outside. He froze. He really hadn’t expected anyone else to be up and about, but those were definitely footsteps he could hear on the other side of the door. They seemed to shuffle and then pause, like they were considering coming in.

He wracked his brains. Maybe Pidge was up? He’d seen her hogged over her laptop enough times to guess that she worked through the night. Hunk had a habit of going to bed early before sleeping like a log, so that was a definite ‘no’. And as far as he was aware, Lance slept like a baby half the time too.

But when the door unexpectedly slid open, Keith was shocked to find it was indeed Lance McClain standing there. He was in his blue and yellow night-gown, hair a little ruffled and eyes half-open, and what looked like a hot water bottle tucked under his arm.

When he noticed Keith his drowsy look quickly vanished. “Oh, hey,” he said with surprise, waving his free hand at him. “Training at this time? Really?”

Keith sighed through his nose. He wasn’t in the mood for this. “Wandering around the castle at this time?” he retorted.

Lance snickered. “Touché,” he replied, before walking further into the room. “So… can’t sleep, huh?”

Keith shuffled and turned his head away. “No,” he muttered.

“Dude, you look kinda… I don’t know, flushed?” If Keith wasn’t imagining things, Lance actually sounded _concerned_, and when he turned back to look at him he could see his eyes scanning him like he was trying to find something else wrong with him.

“I was just training, how do you expect me to look?” Keith snapped.

Lance shoved his hands into the pockets of his gown, pinning him with that scrutinizing look that made Keith feel like he was being scolded. “You know that’s not what I meant. Why can’t you sleep?”

Keith didn’t want to answer the question, but Lance was watching him, and he wasn’t going to let up. “I… it’s nothing. I just get bad nights sometimes.”

He avoided Lance’s gaze again, resting his elbows against his knees. He expected the blue paladin to keep probing him with more questions, but instead, he walked to the space beside him and sat down, his shoulder briefly bumping his. Keith was shocked by the intimacy. He and Lance could rarely get through one conversation without falling out, so he was surprised to find him wanting to be close to him right now. If it were the other way around, Keith would have grown frustrated and walked out by now.

But there was something about Lance’s manner that made him think he actually wanted to help him; the way he’d decided to stay, and how he was staring at him with a soft, curious expression. His hot water bottle, which was covered in pink fur and oddly shaped like a rabbit, now lay in his lap like a comfort blanket.

“Is it about Shiro?” asked Lance, rather sadly.

Keith felt his gaze completely drawn to Lance’s, perhaps from how he’d known exactly what was bothering him without having to ask many questions. After a moment Keith looked at the floor, head hanging low. “That’s part of it.”

“And the other part?”

Before Keith could reply, Lance answered his own question. “Oh. Are you still worried about the whole ‘leading Voltron’ thing?”

He really didn’t want to talk about it. He came here because he wanted to avoid conversations like this, dodge the issue as much as he could because people wouldn’t understand. He went quiet for a long moment, but Lance was watching him. Then he felt the other boy gently nudge him with his elbow, making him look up.

“Come on, you don’t have to play the lone wolf all the time. You’re allowed to talk about stuff.”

_Not when Shiro isn’t here, _he almost said, but kept the words back as he noticed Lance’s genuine smile. He wasn’t used to the friendliness the blue paladin was showing him, how he was actually making an effort to talk to him. He supposed he was grateful for it, but he didn’t know how to show it. He was too tired; tired from his thoughts, tired from no sleep – he should back out now before he said something rude.

“I’m not good at talking about it,” he admitted.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Lance chuckled. “It doesn’t mean you can’t_ try_.”

Keith looked to the floor, wringing his hands together. He just wanted to run back to his room, try and sleep – anything to escape.

“Dude, who taught you to be so _stubborn_?” Lance suddenly exclaimed. “Seriously, you’re like a brick wall.”

Keith chuckled humourlessly. “I’ve been told that before.”

He rubbed his eyes with the side of his hand. There was a throbbing pain behind his eyes, one that he couldn’t reach. “I should go to bed, Lance,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse.

When he looked back at him Lance closed his eyes and sighed.

“I guess we both should,” he said with a nod, appearing to accept defeat.

As Keith lay his head against the wall for a moment, stretching his muscles, Lance got to his feet, and it took Keith a moment to realise he was holding out his hand. He was standing there with that smile on his face, patient and understanding, even if a little tired. For some reason, Keith felt sad he hadn’t seen this side of Lance before – or the fact that he’d argued with him so much that he hadn’t stopped to _try_ and see it.

After hesitation, Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and let him pull him to his feet. His vision was weaker than he remembered, and the shock of it must have shown on his face because Lance suddenly had an arm around his shoulders.

“Don’t go fainting on me, okay? I’m not _carrying _you to bed, Mullet.” His eyes had a mischievous sparkle to them as Keith met his gaze, and he all but let himself be dragged out of the room with Lance’s arm around him. A small grin forced his way to his lips as the door shut behind them.

* * *

“You’re going to be fine, by the way.”

“Lance, I’m going to sleep, stop worrying,” Keith told the other boy, hands clutching the hot water bottle that had been shoved into his chest.

“No, I mean…” Lance shoved his hands in his gown pockets again, standing in the dimness of Keith’s room like a strange shadow, perhaps feeling he didn’t belong there. “I mean you’re going to be fine, with leading Voltron.”

The subject made Keith wince, shoulders hunched as he perched on the edge of his bed. “You don’t know that.”

“Shiro did,” Lance said with a shrug. “And we all trusted Shiro with our lives. If he wanted you to take his place, then you’re going to do a good job.”

“I thought you didn’t want me leading you anywhere?” Keith reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, I said that _then, _before the Black Lion picked you. You can’t keep beating yourself up for something you haven’t even done yet. No-one said it wouldn’t be weird at first, but I think if both Shiro and the lion see something in you, it’s something you’ll grow into. Do you think any of us were perfect paladins when we first came to the castle?”

Keith considered this, biting the inside of his cheek. “I guess not,” he admitted.

Lance gave him that soft smile again. Something about it warmed the inside of Keith’s chest, reassuring him. “Well, isn’t this the same thing?”

Keith sighed. He was exhausted and probably delirious, but he was smiling for the first time in what felt like weeks. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Lance chuckled. “Definitely, in my opinion.”

“Shut up,” Keith said with a sleepy chuckle, before he finally turned to lie on his back, head settling into the pillows.

“Well, I hate to be your _mom_, Keith, but you’d better sleep now,” Lance said.

“Mm-hm,” was all Keith managed to say, eyes already closing.

He could hear Lance shuffling his feet. “Okay, well… I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Lance, wait,” Keith called out, opening his eyes and saying the words more loudly than he’d attended.

Lance stopped and met his gaze curiously. “Yeah?”

Keith hesitated. He was so tired, and this whole situation was bizarre. He’d had an entire conversation with Lance, found himself comforted by his presence alone, right when he’d been sure he was going to keep his feelings bottled up. They usually weren’t like this, and it felt strange just having Lance in his bedroom.

But he couldn’t let him leave without saying what was on his mind.

“Thank you,” he said to him.

He could just about glimpse Lance smiling in the darkness. “No problem. Team Leader.”

And then he was gone, and Keith found himself with the most amazing lightness in his shoulders before he finally drifted into sleep. 


End file.
